By Lindsay Dunsmuir WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents had alleged "sex parties" with prostitutes over several years, said a report published on Thursday and stemming from a review of allegations of misconduct by several DEA agents in Colombia. The alleged parties…

By Keith Coffman DENVER (Reuters) - A Colorado lawmaker who said an attack on a woman whose unborn child was cut from her womb was a "curse of God" caused by U.S. policy on abortion was criticized by Democrats and Republicans alike on Thursday. Gordon Klingenschmitt, a Republican member of the…

U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl tried to escape his Taliban captors a dozen times in five years as a prisoner of war, once remaining free for nine days, but each time he was found and brutally beaten, he said in a statement released on Wednesday. The statement, Bergdahl's first account of his…

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A bridge under construction in Salado, Texas collapsed onto several vehicles on Thursday after a truck hit at least one beam supporting it, local officials said. Local news media reported at least one person has been killed, but the local Bell County Sheriff's Office could…

By Ellen Wulfhorst NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two people remained unaccounted for on Friday in the wake of an apparent gas explosion that destroyed four New York City apartment buildings and injured 19 people, police said. The blast appeared to have been gas-related, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said.…

(Reuters) - The deputy police chief in Fresno, California, was arrested on Thursday on charges of participating in multiple conspiracies to distribute heroin, oxycodone and marijuana, the FBI said. Keith Foster, 51, was arrested along with three other residents of Fresno, about 170 miles south of…

NEW YORK (Reuters) - At least one person was critically injured in a building collapse in New York City's East Village neighborhood on Thursday and others were being assessed, fire officials said. Live footage on local television showed a residential apartment building engulfed in flames and heavy…

For the past month, the name most associated with venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is former partner Ellen Pao, who took the firm to trial for gender discrimination and retaliation. Now the company is searching for new names, at a more intense level than is typical in venture…

By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Two black women who said their hairstyles made them targets for airport security pat-downs said on Thursday the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) had agreed to stop singling out women for screening based solely on their "sisterlocks." …

(Reuters) - Three Missouri police agencies have agreed to restrict the use of tear gas as part of a settlement of a lawsuit alleging that officers used heavy-handed tactics to quell protests in Ferguson after a white officer fatally shot an unarmed black teen. The settlement requires police to…

By Yasmeen Abutaleb and Lisa Baertlein NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The White House is due to issue an ambitious plan to slow the growing and deadly problem of antibiotic resistance over the next five years, one that requires massive investments and policy changes from a broad array of U.S.…

By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A former Los Angeles police officer's father, who authorities say helped his son flee across the border to Mexico to avoid facing murder charges, was arrested on Thursday and accused of lying to federal agents, the FBI said. Victor Solis, 53, was taken into…

Indiana Governor Mike Pence on Thursday signed into law a controversial religious freedom bill that could allow businesses and individuals to deny services to gays, in a move that prompted protests from some business leaders. Supporters of the bill, which was passed overwhelmingly by both chambers…

By Jon Herskovitz AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A U.S. district judge in Texas on Thursday issued a stay to halt the U.S. Labor Department from implementing a rule that would expand medical leave protections for same-sex couples, saying the move impinges on the rights of states that ban gay marriage. …

By Steve Quinn JUNEAU (Reuters) - Police in Alaska said on Thursday that human remains found over the weekend belong to two members of a four-person Kenai family that has been missing since last May. The state's medical examiner's office positively identified 23-year-old Rebecca Adams and her…

(Reuters) - Tesoro Corp said it anticipates restarting its strike-hit Golden Eagle refinery in Martinez, California, on Friday, according to a filing with Contra Costa Health Services. Workers at the Martinez refinery ratified a new contract and ended a 52-day strike at that plant, the United…

By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - California will no longer bar all paroled sex offenders from living near schools and parks, part of the fallout from a state Supreme Court decision that said such requirements violated the constitutional rights of parolees in San Diego. The new…

By Sherrel Wheeler Stewart BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Reuters) - An Alabama jury recommended on Thursday that a woman convicted of running her 9-year-old granddaughter to death as punishment for lying about having eaten chocolates spend the rest of her life in prison, prosecutors said. Joyce Garrard, 50,…

By Susan Cornwell and Caroline Humer WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a bill to permanently repair the formula for reimbursing Medicare physicians, marking a rare bipartisan achievement and sending the issue next to the Senate. …

A top California official is calling on lawmakers to pass a so-called motor-voter law mirroring one recently approved in Oregon, which would automatically register people to vote when they obtain or renew driver's licenses. Alex Padilla, a former lawmaker who was recently elected secretary of…